Alternative Start for villains:
By
British_Beetle,
Posted on: 2008-06-20 09:54 in Suggestions and Ideas
Contacts:
Choice at start of:
1. Dugg : Skulls Boss
2. HardBall : Hellions Boss
3. Councilman Stratem: Corrupt City council representative.
For ease of access , all three are located in the central square. Dugg makes his headquarters in The Cracked Nogg Inn , a seedy tavern. HardBall has an office in the back of a sports shop and Stratem holds office in the foyer of the town hall.
Missions:
A: Dugg:
Welcome:
So, <villain name> is it ? You think you have what it takes to butt heads with the Skulls? Well see. Tell ya what. You show me youre tough enough and Ill sign you up.
Mission 1: Prove youre tough
Defeat 10 Hellions
A simple seek and destroy mission.
Clue: Location of counterfeit paragon Citizen papers.
On completion:
So, looks like you show some promise. Maybe I let you carry my beer. Maybe I have something bigger in mind for you. Which will it be ?
Choice: other: rob warehouse (steal crate contents from generic warehouse)
Try something bigger (mission 2)
Mission 2: Steal Printing Plates
Blurb: So, looks like HardBalls got himself a people smuggling business. This could be bad news for the brothers on the other side of the wall. Cant be havin reinforcements arriving for the opposition. The printing house will be guarded and Hardball will know most of my guys. Looks like youre my best choice for this one <villain name>. get me those plates and Ill make it worth your while.
Steal printing plates from office block
Enemy: Hellions
Search crates to find plates
On completion: Nice work. Youre proving handy to have around alright. Heres something for your troubles
Reward: 100 inf + training damage 1
So, you up for another job?
Choice: Burn Down Hellion Drinking Hole (set 4 fires)
Kidnap the printer (Mission 3)
Mission 3: Kidnap Printer
Blurb: Stupid plates you brought me turn out to be no good. Theyre all mixed up and encoded somehow. You let me down this time <villain name> . The only thing worse than nothin is bringing me somethin useless. Im disappointed. Im sad. Youre gonna make me happy again hear. Youre gonna make up for this. Ive found the makesr of the plates. Theyll know the codes. Heres their address, now go get them and bring them to me.
Mission: Kidnap Printers
Enemies: Hellions , Clockwork.
NPC: Lex and Mark the printers
Map: warehouse map. Main opponents are Hellion gangers but In the back the Printers are in negotiation with two clockwork. Once defeated the clockwork raise an alarm. The player now has to escape with the Printers and avoid / beat, clockwork hunting parties.
On completion: Dugg: You done good there <villain name>. now we control the plates we can print our own citizen passes. These machines concern me though. Those two printers have no idea what their plans are but they was lookin for transport papers for a cargo in an office over near the old city gates. Im thinking we can probably use this cargo for ourselves eh <villain name>? . Why dont you go get it. No idea how heavy it is so Ill get some of the boys to meet you there.
Choices: Clean up the Docklands (hunt 10 clockwork)
Skullduggery (Mission 4)
Mission 4: SkullDuggery
Objective : Recover the cargo
My Boys have checked out the area and it seems like a deserted office building but they did spot some Hellions entering a while ago. No sign of those machines though. Listen were cutting this close. Word from atlas park is that the delivery van is on its way. Youll only have 90 minutes to collect the cargo before the van gets there
Location: office block near closed Paragon Gates
Enemy : Hellions / clockwork , time limit 90 minutes.
On entering: no sign of your helping hands but plenty of loud music and machine grease
1st and 2nd floor: Hellions standard office layout.
2nd floor has a lift shaft that is open and empty. Dropping down here to the 1st floor again opens to a stairway down to the basement. Tileset: same as storehouse in invention tutorial mission.
NPC: Tock , Clockwork Lieutenant
Clue: crate of carefully stored and refrigerated brains.
On completion and exit: Ambush! Skulls jump the player saying
Words come down and Duggs on his way out. Guess what. Youre leading the way.
Return to contact:
they did what? This is bad. Looks like I gotta lay low for a while until I can get to the bottom of whos out to get me. Listen, dont have a clue why those tin cans were collecting brains but one of the eggheads that does some jobs for me says they aint no normal brains. Theyre Coralax. Not my problem and Ive never been one of the curious types, which is why Im still around. Let me give you the number of a friend of mine. Hes outside the skulls so youll be safe from any more attacks. Never know, when all this blows over I might have some more work for you. In the meantime, you have my thanks.
Introduce new contact:
Story Arc award: temporary power: Skullfire : a shotgun adapted to fire incendiary shells. Range is similar to buckshot but instead of knockback it does moderate DoT (fire) . this power can be used 10 times.
Badge: Skulls Arena badge: you need a Brother , you got one.
Contact 2: HardBall
Intro: <villain name> huh? You dont look like much to me. Hows about I call you Weenie ? You wanna be in my gang Weenie ? Well, we dont take no losers here. You gotta prove yourself, gotta earn the right to a Hellion colour. This aint no shelter for strays yhear.
Mission 1: Defeat 10 skulls
those skulls are getting ideas above their station. I want you to go show em they aint welcome round here
Basic seek and destroy mission.
Clue: Matchbook from headers nightclub and a flame belt buckle.
On completion:
HardBall: You done ok Weenie. Wait, let me see that buckle again. I know that buckle. Belongs to Chuckles, one o my more promising boys. Havent heard from him for a few days now. Weenie, I think its time you went clubbing and not in the way that needs music though a good beat wont hurt none
Choice: trash Skull hangout
Search headers for signs of Chuckles (Mission 2)
Mission 2:
Chuckles always did like a good time but never had sense to stick to his own turf. Get yourself over to headers and see if you can turn up anything
Location: headers nightclub
Tileset: use sections of Pocket D for main floor and storage area from IO tutorial for store room.
On entry: the reek of alchohol and less pleasant liquids hits you as you enter. Time to party.
Enemies: Skulls
Objective: search for crate
NPC: Syd the night club owner (skull lieutenant)
Clue: Crate contains clothing along with a list of dates and numbers broken down into Male and Female categories. If these are tallies of missing people , the Skulls have been at this for quite some time and are responsible for a lot of lost potential mugging victims.
Clue: Hellion Signet ring
On completion: HardBall: That Ring was Chuckless alright. Them Skulls gone done im in! Looks like they made some sort of delivery last night according to this ledger, at least thats what Numbers over there tells me. What you say Weenie ? You up for some more work ?
Choice: Rob Documents in office
Hit Skull Drop points (Mission 3)
Mission 3: Hit Skull Drop Points
Hardball: Ok, listen up Weenie. They took one of ours, well, they probably took more than that but I liked Chuckles so now its time for some payback. Find whoever the Skulls are working with. Find em so I can hurt em. Hurt em baaaad
. Or goooood, I cant never remember which
..
Objective: look for clues at Skull drop points.
Enemy: Skulls, Circle of thorns
NPC: Books Skull chief accounts keeper
3 different location near Cliffside of the city. Tilesets are all standard. At the last location the player encounters Books and his contact a CoT life mage.
Clue: overhear Booky and Lifemage:
LM: the ritual approaches and you are short on your promises
Books: well make the target. You let your masters know we got what they want and were working on a little bonus. Word is theres a super around thats neither hero nor destined. Reckon hell make a good addition to the offering
LM: Do not disappoint us or
.. eh, whos that?
Clue: life mage drops a paper with an address. The CoT holding pen.
Completion: hardball: that does it! Skulls workin for them Circle guys! This makes me MAD weenie. I gotta go lie down for a while
Choice: Defeat 5 coralax
Break up Circle Operation (Mission 4)
Mission 4: break up Circle Operation.
Location: last warehouse near Cliffside:
HarBall: Alright Weenie. My boys have scouted the area and theyve moved into position to keep any Circle or Skulls from disturbin ye. Dugg wont have no clue whats goin down inside. Thats where youll be. Get in there, bust some circle heads and crack a few Skulls ifn ye get the chance. No questions ? Good, Im startin to like you Weenie. Oh, on more thing, we can only keep this up for 90 minutes before the council start callin for help from paragon and the whole area gets locked down.
Time limit: 90 minutes
Location: Warehouse Tileset, hole in floor leads to cave system.
Enemy: Skulls (warehouse) Circle of Thorns (caves)
NPC: Gravvithos, Madness Mage
Objectives: rescue 5 hostages, rescue Chuckles
Completion: on exit: Ambush! Defilers! CoT ambush.
Back at contact: nice work Weenie, or should I say <villain name>. you done good. But now we got ourselves a problem. With Chuckles back I find Im not so much in the need for antoehr heavy hitter right now , specially not on whats got Circle heat coming down. You distance yerself from me for a while, ditch this circle heat an maybe we work together again in the future. Fer now, let me introduce you to some friends of mine. Dont say I didnt never gave ye nothing.
Introduce new contacts:
Story Arc Reward:
Temporary power: Hellshell
Lower damage version of the M30 grenade with flash bang capability. 10 uses.
Badge: hellion arena badge: I know we aint working together but youre still one o my boys. Whether you like it or not. Unnerstan Weenie?
Next: Coucilman Stratem
To come: 2nd tier contacts
Additional story arcs
Tying in with Rogue Isles.
I *really* like this idea, I do. There are a few points to raise:
1. Atlas/Galaxy - in my experience nearly all toons except warshades choose Atlas. It could be argued a 2nd villains start point would be redundant, particularly with the relative population difference in CoH vs CoV.
2. Landmarks aside, they are stylistically quite homogeneous. I'd encourage Slumtown to break away and be different to Mercy - some sort of hilly badlands with linked shanty towns (taking zone building lessons learned in Cimeroa) and a definite set of recognisable landmarks (like the Mercy Towers, Atlas Plaza, etc); or a nightmare webway of cheap concrete and temporary building (like Norwich University was when I visited about a decade ago).
3. Weigh up the time on creating a low level zone that can be blown through in a few hours of solid play and take it away from developing more sweet features like Inventions, Player Generated Mishes, or mid-range content like Faultline, or endgame content like Grandville that will have more lasting appeal. Is it a wise investment of time?
i be up for this is troll and Igneous are add to this zone lol
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I *really* like this idea, I do. There are a few points to raise:
1. Atlas/Galaxy - in my experience nearly all toons except warshades choose Atlas. It could be argued a 2nd villains start point would be redundant, particularly with the relative population difference in CoH vs CoV.
2. Landmarks aside, they are stylistically quite homogeneous. I'd encourage Slumtown to break away and be different to Mercy - some sort of hilly badlands with linked shanty towns (taking zone building lessons learned in Cimeroa) and a definite set of recognisable landmarks (like the Mercy Towers, Atlas Plaza, etc); or a nightmare webway of cheap concrete and temporary building (like Norwich University was when I visited about a decade ago).
3. Weigh up the time on creating a low level zone that can be blown through in a few hours of solid play and take it away from developing more sweet features like Inventions, Player Generated Mishes, or mid-range content like Faultline, or endgame content like Grandville that will have more lasting appeal. Is it a wise investment of time?
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thanks for the comments. My views on your points:
1. IMHO YES! its an alternative to starting in teh zig and going on to mercy island. I ideally would set this as a zone without a tutorial in front of it. I love making alts but hate the limited start you get in CoV. Here I would see three distinct starting threads and three distinct (well, ok two) enemy groups. Giving much more variety from the outset than is presently in Mercy. It can be breezed through of course, most start areas can, but I have one or two things left to add that may make this a place to return to and a few ideas for zone events that might spice things up for all levels while still driving an overall story.
2. i agree with you completely. I was originally aiming for a quick and easy solution re-using existing map styles but if a new style could be introduced it would be great.
3. see my answer to point one. additionally, the start of a game is where you hook players. the mid point in invariably where you lose them and the end is where you reward them. Currently imho, the start of CoV has no hook after the second or third Alt. This would expand the possibilities (and will be further expanded in upcoming updates , one in the next hour). If there is ever a time when players can start neutral before deciding to be hero or villain I think this area would serve as a suitable springboard.
In answer to igneous and trolls: I have a plan 
I totally support this idea, you've obviously put a helluva lot of thought into this and it's a great idea. Mercy Island is DARK 24hrs a day, and it's such a pain to play if you've got sunshine behind you and your toon is the only thing you can see.
Great ideas, great planning and deserving of consideration by the Devs methinks
thank you BB.
another piece for the puzzle: contact 3: Councilman Stratem:
I will admit, this is the weakest of the three contacts but it ultimately unlocks the most rewarding story path.
Contact 3: Councilman Stratem:
Location: Sector Hall Foyer
Sector hall uses the same tileset as the Universities but upstairs are offices instead of labs.
Coucilman Stratem is a Young Man in a business suit with dark hair in a pony tail.
Intro: So <villain name>. Youre looking for work huh ? I guess I may have a few jobs you can do for me. Hope you dont mind getting paid in cash, wouldnt look good having to justify the expense through the books you know. You do well by me and Ill see youre properly rewarded once I get control of the council. How about a small display of what you can do ?
Mission 1: Defeat 5 hellions , Defeat 5 Skulls
Simple seek and destroy.
Clue: Skull drops disk with account details for several ledgers. Hellion drops a pass card for Hellion supply depot.
On completion: Stratem: Good work my friend. I can see were going to get along just fine you and I. were certainly going places. These items you found should come in useful too.
Choice: Steal Personnel file from council storage
Sow Discord between Skulls and Hellions (mission 2)
Mission 2: Sowing the Seeds of hate
Well <villain name> . It seems the passcard you found will allow access to a Hellion secure holding facility and the disk contains details of Skull trading activities with someone called Gravithoss. Im thinking, for the benefit of our besieged town, that we can use these items to have the problems solve themselves
Objective: plant disk in Hellion storage facility.
Temporary item: Skull headband and Hellion jacket.
Get in, find the records and make a mess of the place. Drop the headband and the disk on the floor. The hellions will think theyve been hit by Skulls and will use the data on the disk to hit the Skulls where it hurts. The skulls will have no choice but to retaliate
Location: Office building near Westwall.
Enemy: hellions
Objective: destroy 3 filing cabinets
On completion: Stratem: Aha! I knew I had a winner when I chose you. This should keep the gangs busy and out of our way
Choice: hunt Infected (defeat 10 infected)
Root out the Rot (Mission 3)
Mission 3: Root out the Rot
I have a vision <villain name>. And in my vision I see you and me, side by side, running a clean city, a safe city with citizens going about their daily lives making money and paying taxes. To us. Saving their hard earned wage in banks that get robbed by Skulls , of which a percentage comes to us, spending their earnings on luxury items (the tax on which comes to us) that get stolen and fenced by hellions who pay us a percentage. In my vision, we are happy you and I, side by side, power beside power. There is a problem with this dream. There is a rot in this city. A cancer that needs to be cut. A Disease that need to be purged so the fresh clean blood of power can flow freely in our direction. These Infected occupy almost a third of the Dockland. Businesses cant set up without being hit, workers wont work for fear of catching this disease. And who is responsible ? These Infected cant help that they are sick. They cant afford to be treated so isnt it better that they be put out of their , and our, misery ? No, the one who is responsible is the one who brings them here with hollow promises and false hope. Im talking about Dante Crane. He runs the Infected shelter down in the docklands. You take him out and the Infected will crawl off and die somewhere else
Location: Docklands Mission . Tileset: Warehouse
Objective: Defeat Crane and his helpers
NPC: Dante Crane
Enemies: Infected , Crane helpers
Clue: Crane has two Coralax protecting him. He drops a bottle of unknown liquid.
Completion: Stratem: Coralax huh. Well, Ill get this liquid over to one of my friends in Steel canyon university to see if he can analyse it. But well done <villain name>. youre making this look easy
Choice: Burn down Infected hideout (set 3 fires)
Sowing the Seeds of Hate Part 2 : Mission 4
Mission 4: Sowing the Seeds of hate Part 2
Stratem: Youve done great work so far <villain name>. Already the council are close to panic over the escalating war between the Skulls and the Hellions. I think its time to heat things up a bit. Youve probably seen some of the clockwork machines down by the docklands. Youve also probably heard of a group called the Circle of Thorns. Well, I think its time these two groups made each others acquaintance. What do you do when you meet a group more powerful than yourself ? find someone else to take them down a notch or two, thats what. Ive managed to get my hands on a clockwork homing device. I keep it in a lead case to shield its signal. What I want you to do is simple. Bring the device to a Circle hideout and open it. Of course, I have a hideout location right here, thanks to another contact in PPD. Be careful my friend, if Longbow or Arachnos get wind of what youre carrying theyll be all over you to retrieve it.
Location: Caves in Cliffside district.
Enemy: Circle of Thorns , clockwork
Objective: put case in circle hideout where the signal can escape. Get out alive.
Special: once the case has been planted it starts a countdown of 1 minute. At the end of the countdown, the clockwork start arriving. If the player isnt out by then , hes in for a bit of a fight.
Completion: perfect! Those two will wear each other down to almost nothing and once were in position, we can clean up the remnants. And tidy up the assets of course
Choice: Stop the Longbow landing party ( light false lighthouse fire at Slumtown point , enemy : clockwork)
Disrupt the mayors Talks with Arachnos (mission 5)
Mission 5: Ive received some worrying news <villain name>. It appears our glorious mayor has decided to start negotiations with Arachnos. I can only assume he means to join us to the Rogue Isles archipelago. This would mean a serious roadblock to our plans. But, never fear <villain name> I have a plan. There a Longbow launch after pulling into the dockland , you go and get their attention and make your way to the meeting. That should disrupt things and give the mayors credibility with Arachnos a good battering. You better get moving my friend. The meeting is due to start in 90 minutes.
Objective 1: get Longbow attention in docklands (defeat 5 longbow near launch)
Objective 2: get to the meeting house avoiding capture along the way
Objective 3: Disrupt the meeting
Notes: once 5 longbow have been defeated the player will be targeted by longbow hunting patrols through the streets to the meeting location. The player can either fight, outrun the attackers or lead them into groups of other mobs and let them fight it out. Stalkers should be aware that stealth is useless here as if they are stealthy, they cant be followed!
The meeting location is an office building near Central Square (town centre, or perhaps market square would be a good name for it now that I think of it)
Once inside the player must face off against Arachnos. At the end of the mission the player meets :
NPC: Vager : Arachnos sub-commander
Clues: Vager our source has identified <villain name> as the information leak. Our drones have confirmed this. Some very clear footage of <villain name> meeting with Stratem and then heading straight for the Longbow launch. We get <villain name> and we get Stratem!
On defeating Vager : longbow and Arachnos clash allowing the player to slip away.
Returning to Stratem: You were seen! You let yourself be followed! Im sorry <villain name> youre just too dangerous to be around. We part ways here. Cant say it hasnt been fun and cant say Im going to miss you but from now on, I dont know you. Listen, I am grateful. Here, have something to tide you over and hopefully pay your passage out of slumtown. Now now, dont get angry, wouldnt want the guards feeling that they have to protect me do we ? Run along now <villain name>. Lets face it, there's two types of people in the world. those who are useful and those who use. You've been useful <villain name> but now its time to throw you away. Oh, and about that vision I had, I lied. in my dreams I stand alone.
Story arc reward: temporary power: Clockwork beacon : uses 3 , calls a sprocket to fight alongside the player.
Special: unlocks mayor of Slumtown as contact.
Whilst heroes appear to have two starting zones, they are in fact vitrualy identical, with the same missions, the same mob types, same look and similar layout. They re both much smaller than Mercy too.
Galaxy City was in fact added late in development for technical reasons: they where afraid the servers wouldn't be able to cope with the number of people starting. This is now considered a mistake. Not only did it use resourses that could be better alocated elswhere, it creates a poor first impression by making the game appear less populated than it really is.
In fact, policy now appears to be that zones require too many resourses to add new ones unless they are shared hero/villain zones.
As for starting contacts, whilst it appears that heroes get 5, compared to the villains 2, in fact heroes have to join the general mission pool at level 5, where as villains get a second tier starter contact.
I really should do something about this signature.
Really nice ideas, though I have similar concerns to Sir_Helm about whether the Devs would bother to implement new newbie content that is outlevelled so quickly for just one half of the game. Although I will just state for the record that I usually send my heroes to Galaxy, just to avoid the lag and broadcast spam in Atlas 
I must admit that on blueside I tend to avoid all the starting contacts now and just street-sweep to L5 - it's faster and I've previously experienced all the missions for every origin in Atlas/Galaxy anyway so I don't feel I'm missing anything.
Redside I don't see that as an option because Kalinda/Burke not only give starting missions, but also the cape/aura missions eventually - I've heard that if you don't do their starting stuff then when you talk to them at L20 to get a cape you have to clear the starting missions anyway, which by that time are full of grey-con mobs.
So redside what I tend to do now is pick Burke (less running about for his missions than Kalinda) and once I finish him I'm usually L5 and head straight to Port Oakes without doing the second Mercy contact. The times I did the second Mercy contact I found that I hit Oakes so late that after the 3 newsies and Mayhem I'd get halfway into the referred contact's missions/arc before I was L10+ and outlevelling it.
I can see your point , however, I just feel that villains are funnelled into the whole Arachnos way , and then spend levels and levels beating the living crup out of them.
I would like to see an alternative to teh arachnos story for bad guys and short of playing a hellion or skull in atlas park, I think a "half way" house of sorts would be nice. Ideally this halfway house would also allow hero starts with planned PvP but I'm not a huge PvP fan (dont hurt me!!!) so I wouldnt even attempt to design how that would work....
Anyway, I'm not going to stop playing if this isnt picked up and after the initial idea of a new zone, this has become a sort of personal project to develope a zone along with storyline , events and atmosphere with the challenge of being bound by the existing CoX setup.
Right: the next sections are being worked on but wont get posted tonight. so, as a taster of things to come, here's the tier 2 contact lists unlocked from the starting contacts and expanding the storyline.
there will be a convergence in the future, dont worry
Tier Two Contacts:
The Jeweller : introduced by Dugg clockwork / Infected
Pete Twinelad : introduced by Dugg (nightclub owner) ; Hellion / Longbow / PPD
The Mime introduced by HardBall Circle of Thorns / infected
Dante introduced by hardball PPD/Arachnos/Slumtown PD
Mayor Calm : unlocked after Stratem : see below
Ex-Arbiter crowe introduced by Mayor Calm Arachnos / Circle / infected
Ex-Longbow Crass introduced by mayor calm Longbow / Clockwork / coralax
Kalinda: Unlocked at the end of story arcs. Ive been hearing good things about you <villain name>. I have been asked to give you the opportunity to work for me. But, if you work for me, it has to be here, on mercy Island. Theres a ticket ready for you at the ferry terminal.
If kalinda is taken up on her offer she treats the player as if they have completed the snakes story arcs and are introduced immediately to the next contact. The player is now compromised in the eyes of the Slumtown contacts and will no longer be offered missions until some time in the future, maybe.
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I would like to see an alternative to teh arachnos story for bad guys
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So would a lot of people. However the arachnos/destined one storyline is so closely intergrated into CoV that creating an alternative would besically mean recreating the whole of CoV with new zones and storylines, not just the starting zones. And realistically, that is never going to happen.
I really should do something about this signature.
Nice ideas all and great work on them. Thumbs up here.
However I sincerely doubt this will going to happen. Especially when you consider that Galaxy City is an empty zone as well. But what about joining these two together?
Making Galaxy City a place where young heroes AND villains grow up? Including the opportunity to do some PvP? Then after the arcs are completed the villains escape to rogue islands with the forces of the long arm of the law hot on their tails. While the heroes move on to better places.
This way the area can be re-used quite easily. Plus it gives the PvP'ers the oportunity to start at level 1.
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I would like to see an alternative to teh arachnos story for bad guys
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So would a lot of people. However the arachnos/destined one storyline is so closely intergrated into CoV that creating an alternative would besically mean recreating the whole of CoV with new zones and storylines, not just the starting zones. And realistically, that is never going to happen.
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Surely some sort of story along the lines of infiltrating arachnos and being a 5th columnist could be devised that would provide reason to do a lot of the existing arachnos content but with a covert agenda. Sure it'd be a cheap solution, but throw in the odd (could the branching code the devs are playing with be used?) extra mission or contact with your handlers and I'm sure it could work.
Whether it's worth the devs doing? Different issue, but probably not...
Quite a nicely thought out suggestion from the OP though.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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Surely some sort of story along the lines of infiltrating arachnos and being a 5th columnist could be devised that would provide reason to do a lot of the existing arachnos content but with a covert agenda.
[/ QUOTE ]You've read my Brute's Bio?
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Surely some sort of story along the lines of infiltrating arachnos and being a 5th columnist could be devised that would provide reason to do a lot of the existing arachnos content but with a covert agenda.
[/ QUOTE ]You've read my Brute's Bio?
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I don't think I have - I don't usually bother reading Brute's bios as they aren't usually the most literate of authors - more likely to smash a pen than write something interesting. 
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
Tsk, 'Brute' is only the name of the AT, descriptive of their combat style... A Brute can be a sophisticated evil genius wreaking havoc in a technological powersuit as well.
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Galaxy City was in fact added late in development for technical reasons: they where afraid the servers wouldn't be able to cope with the number of people starting. This is now considered a mistake. Not only did it use resourses that could be better alocated elswhere, it creates a poor first impression by making the game appear less populated than it really is.
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Which is why I still think they should combine the two into one big starting zone 
The HQ building in Galaxy could become a lower level under City Hall, and the RV portal could be place there too.
The Galaxy Girl statue and its little park could replace the big car park behind City Hall, so it'd still have the same positioning of being behind the main building as it has now.
The zone size could be expanded to fit in all the little unique areas, and the duplicated industrial areas could just be merged.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Galaxy City was in fact added late in development for technical reasons: they where afraid the servers wouldn't be able to cope with the number of people starting. This is now considered a mistake. Not only did it use resourses that could be better alocated elswhere, it creates a poor first impression by making the game appear less populated than it really is.
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Which is why I still think they should combine the two into one big starting zone
The HQ building in Galaxy could become a lower level under City Hall, and the RV portal could be place there too.
The Galaxy Girl statue and its little park could replace the big car park behind City Hall, so it'd still have the same positioning of being behind the main building as it has now.
The zone size could be expanded to fit in all the little unique areas, and the duplicated industrial areas could just be merged.
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Bah, but some of us anti-social types like starting in Galaxy City. I don't want my new alts running smack into a huge crowd of dancing heroes doing costume competitions.
Besides, I always start in Galaxy (ever since US beta, when a bug meant Mutant origins couldn't start in Atlas) and tradition should be carried on regardless of whether it actually makes sense!
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator
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Galaxy City was in fact added late in development for technical reasons: they where afraid the servers wouldn't be able to cope with the number of people starting. This is now considered a mistake. Not only did it use resourses that could be better alocated elswhere, it creates a poor first impression by making the game appear less populated than it really is.
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Which is why I still think they should combine the two into one big starting zone
The HQ building in Galaxy could become a lower level under City Hall, and the RV portal could be place there too.
The Galaxy Girl statue and its little park could replace the big car park behind City Hall, so it'd still have the same positioning of being behind the main building as it has now.
The zone size could be expanded to fit in all the little unique areas, and the duplicated industrial areas could just be merged.
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Bah, but some of us anti-social types like starting in Galaxy City. I don't want my new alts running smack into a huge crowd of dancing heroes doing costume competitions.
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You know you can go around the side, don't you?
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
I love this idea.
Here's a layout idea for you though.
North Side: The War Wall seperating the SlumTown from Paragon City. Up there there are buildings similar to the ones in Boomtown and Mercy Isle.
East Side: Similar to the North Side but with charred and burning buildings due to heavy Hellion activity.
West Side: The cemetary, home to mostly Skulls but also a few Banished Pantheon (Just zombies).
Centre: Winding alleys, broken buildings and the main part of the shanty town. All other area's have scattered hut's like in Mercy Isle. This is home to the Infected.
South Side: The hilly region. Home to the Circle of Thorns. There are arcaic rituals being performed here outside of the prying eyes of the corrupt government. There are also Infected which have chosen to live more in peace and plot. This area is decorated like the hills in The Hollows but with some shanty town features.
As I said, I can see the arguments against this ever being implemented... but when did that ever stop someone making a suggestion ?
Fan fic is written whether or not it is recognised as legitimate content (look at the cult status Bobba Fett received beyond his short appearance in the original SW trilogy!). Players make CoX videos. Unnofficial trailers. costumes are suggested. I dont see this as any different. I dont have the skill to make a good video or produce a decent fan fic comic strip so I'm writing a piece of fiction based on the game. I'm putting it in suggestions because it is new to the game and because if, by some incredible chance, a dev reads this he or she may actually like some of the ideas and generate a few of their own.
To the other suggestions/comments:
Judgement_Dave: 5th column idea is in there, just not appearing yet. The mayor has more than a few tricks up his sleeve along with a few unusual allies.
grinningspade: I too would love a common starting area for villains and heroes. a chance for a non arachnos villain or a darker form of hero perhaps. However, PvP would have to be consentual and I'm not sure how that would fit into the current system. My main idea here was to create an area that is familiar to hero players but using villain characters. This would make it easier to integrate both communities in the future if they ever decide to go down that route at such a low level.
reclusesphantom (a fellow paddy too! ) : Love the location ideas (especially the burnt out building husks) and your hills idea matches in with an earlier comment. for reasons yet to be revealed, there needs to be two seperate water facing fronts.
And though there arent any trolls, there is an appearance of the igneous , though not as a regular enemy group.
So far I have half of the tier two missions, two seperate tie-ins to Rogue isles and a lunar (approx monthly - realtime , zone event). There is also a , as yet, tenuous link to a new trial zone but that hasnt been fully fleshed out or knitted into the area yet so I'm leaving it until last as a tack-on idea.
Thanks for all comments, positive and negative. I like criticism, it helps focus the direction of the writing and forces me to think more about how things knit together. I'm not a writer but I do liek to jot down ideas now and then
next update as soon as I transfer the first drafts from paper to screen.
without reading trough all this, ill just say /signed.
i was wondering about it my self, but never bothered to make anything of it.
thumbs up.
this is a long one so I'll post in bits as I write.
CoV starting off with variety:
One of the main problems I have with CoV is that I am an alt-a-holic. I love creating new characters. However, I absolutely hate the lvl 1-10 content in CoV and I hate snakes and I especially hate the fact that I have no choice but to plough through the same stories again and again ..
So, rather than just complain, I have a suggestion for a fix to this.
Solution 1: Location diversity. Heroes get to choose Atlas or Galaxy , but villains only get to choose mercy Island. Fair enough you think, after al, they broke you out of the zig so you owe them something and you are after all a destined one. But, what if you dont want to be a destined one ? what if you dont want to work for arachnos and instead want to stay in paragon city ?
New location: level range 1-6 : SlumTown.
Background: with the raising of the war walls paragon city sealed itself from the world outside. Heroes patrolled the streets protecting the downtrodden and disabused. The fantastic events, the wonderous sights all serve to attract an influx of citizens. However, the limited land area meant not everyone could afford to live in this utopia so a shanty town started to grow outside the walls populated by those who want the better life of Paragon city and those who refuse to live under the Rule of Arachnos in the Rogue Isles.
This is a zone of gang violence, renegade clockwork, circle of thorns hunting grounds where the odd civilian going missing wont be questioned. Its also a perfect place for an up and coming crime lord to get his feet wet.
Layout: quite chaotic but with an overall structure. Central square with the mayors residence (and trainer , merchant etc). Buildings are quite clean closer to the walls and quite tall but further away they degrade into tenements, neighbourhoods of hovels and streets degrade into twisting alleyways. Overall a range from just less clean than Atlas park to just less dirty than mercy island. The area is borderd on two sides by war walls and on one by cliffs. The last side is a rather decrepit dockland/beachfront. There are 5 main areas of the sector: Westwall, Northwall, town centre, Docklands, Shantyland.
Enemies:
Skulls, (centre of town, control North war wall)
Hellions, (centre of Town, Control West war wall)
Circle of Thorns (centre of town, control the cliff areas)
Clockwork (Docklands, occupying rusting tanker wrecks)
Coralax, (docklands, caves underneath the docks just above water level)
Infected (shanty areas of town)